9 Common Food Bad For Dogs

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I have a pet dog at home which is just about 1 year old. It’s a mix breed and I have been feeing it a lot of nonsense. Here are 9 things given to him which I thought were safe.

Alcohol

During weekends, I enjoy mixing my own cocktail of ‘Kahlua’, ‘Bailey’s’ and milk while watching football games. Sometimes, out of curiosity, I would pour a little into my dog’s bowl and see if it can get drunk. Now I know that alchohol can lead to injury, disorientation, sickness, urination problems or even coma or death from alcohol poisoning. Some dogs may be attracted to alcoholic drinks so don’t leave one setting where a dog can reach it.

Bones

I feed my dog once a day. Usually after lunch, I will give all the leftover chicken bones to it. I thought it would be safe because he is still alive today. Now I know that cooked bones can be very hazardous for your dog. Bones become brittle when cooked which causes them to splinter when broken. The splinters have sharp edges that have been known to become stuck in the teeth, caused choking when caught in the throat or caused a rupture or puncture of the stomach lining or intestinal tract. Exceptionally bad bones are turkey and chicken legs, ham, pork chop and veal.

Cat Food

I don’t have cats but know that cat food is not formulated for canine consumption. It is generally too high in protein and fats and is not a balanced diet for a dog.

Chocolate

My house has a lot of chocolates given by relatives and friends in their travels. Sometimes, when a chocolate is near expiry, I will feed my dog again. Luckily, he is still alive. =) Now I know that, cocoa powder and cooking chocolate are the most toxic forms. These forms of chocolate contain ten times more theobromine than milk chocolate. Even licking a substantial part of the chocolate icing from a cake can make a dog sick. The next most dangerous forms are semi-sweet chocolate and dark chocolate, with milk chocolate being the least dangerous. A dog needs to eat more than a 250gm block of milk chocolate, however the high amount of fat found in milk chocolate can lead to an attack of pancreatitis.

Raw Eggs

After gym, I’ll usually eat all the boiled egg whites and give my dog the yolk. It is only the raw eggs that should not be given to a dog.

Onions

All forms of onion can be a problem including dehydrated onions, raw onions, cooked onions and table scraps containing cooked onions and/or garlic. Left over pizza, Chinese dishes and commercial baby food containing onion, sometimes fed as a supplement to young pets, can cause illness.

Salt

Too much salt is bad too. Mainly, iodized salt and salty foods can cause stomach ailments and pancreatitis. Some dogs, especially large breeds, have been known to gulp too much water after eating salty foods and developed a life threatening condition called bloat during which the stomach fills with gas and twists, leading to a painful death unless emergency treatment is received immediately.

Tobacco Products

No one in my house smokes so I’m not really concerned about tobacco products. Anyways cigarette butts, cigars, pipe tobacco, nicotine patches, nicotine gum and chewing tobacco can be fatal to dogs if ingested. Signs of nicotine poisoning can appear within an hour and include hyperactivity, salivation, panting, vomiting and diarrhea. Advanced signs include muscle weakness, twitching, collapse, coma, increased heart rate and cardiac arrest.

Tomatoes

There were a few times where I caught my mum feeding the dog a whole tomato. Little did she know that these contain atropine which can cause dilated pupils, tremors and irregular heartbeat. The highest concentration of atropine is found in the leaves and stems of tomato plants, next is the unripe (green) tomatoes and then the ripe tomato.

34 thoughts on “9 Common Food Bad For Dogs”

Grapes and Raisins are very toxic. It causes Acute Renal Failure (kidneys). Also, it causes them to stop eating and develop diarrhea. Bread Dough (yeast) It expands and also ferments, creating alcohol like enzymes which can poison your pet. Can cause gastric distention, respiratory and vascular compromise, CNS depression and death.

I have a full blooded American Pit Bull puppy who is now just over 9 months old. She LOVES white seedless grapes. I was not aware that they are “poisonous” to dogs. But I have fed her lots of them before finding out this information. She had no signs of any poisoning from them. I have stopped feeding them to her but I can’t even have them in the house because if she sees them she HAS to have them. She whines and begs for grapes. So I don’t understand why some dogs have renal failure and death when my puppy had no problems with eating them.

I think it’s most confusing what is good or bad for a dog in regards to food in genral,you talk to a vet he tells you feed him this(when he was in vet school ,that mfg took him to lunch) you ask people in genral,conflicking answers,I personlly think no one knows

(Scott) Grapes and raisins are toxic only when taken in large quantities. Like for example, if the dog is fed bowls after bowls of grapes and raisins, it’ll be toxic for it. However, bread is alright. I feed my dog bread all the time.

(bob) Some things yeah, some thing nay. But I still think the vet doc is credible enough.

I think it is hard to tell what is good or bad for dogs due to the fact that like humans all dogs are different. Some things may affect this dog one way but a thousand other dogs may have no problems with it. It also works the other way what would kill thousands of dogs there are some that could eat it all day long. So I really don’t know but feed your dog what it likes or you will allow him to have if it makes him sick you know not to do it anymore. If it kills them I guess you really know you shouldn’t have fed them that and should probably dig a hole and have a small ceremony in the memory of the beloved friend that has passed.

(mayo) I’m not sure but I feel figs are high in sugar but one or 2 can’t hurt. Worst that could happen is it gets a bad case of pooping. However, it’s just my opinion. Still, it’s better to feed your dogs safe food.

I was wondering if chinese food was band for dogs although i remember when i was about 11 i fed this stray dog that kept coming to our tomato garden, a green tomatoe. I use to toss over the little ones to him and he would catch them in his mouth. He still comes around today and now i’m 13. And i do not feed him any more… only like hot dogs. =].

Well kara, that was not a very good idea to feed him tomatoes lol but chinese food is a little bad for dogs, if u are considering giving him sweet and sour chicken or something… altho, spicy stuff CAN upset his stomach a lot. rice is good. but if its like chow mein or lo mein, u shoyuld take out the onions and stuff before u giv him it. hope this he;ps. :)

Give your dog good nutritional DOG FOOD or make your own with dog recipes-(too much work) and Make sure they can handle it. My dog is allergic to wheat-found out the HARD expensive way. There is no reason to experiment. Some of the stuff I have read on this site is outrageous and stupid. Dogs are not garbage disposals either.

I fed my dog Chinese yesterday morning! My daughter did not trek me w were our of dog food the night before and my poor little dog was hungry. I gave her the rice, I took the breading off the sweet n sour chicken (sauce was on the side) and there was another kind of chicken I don’t remember the name of it. But I rinsed that chicken off and warmed it all up and mixed with the rice. Against my better judgement I have it to he even with ask the precautions of rinsing it and decreasing it I woke this morning with a poppy mess everywhere in her kennel! It will never happen again. I feel so bad that she was in there all caged up for the night sick a can be without me down there. I feel hirrible about it even now! I just felt bad bc she was hungry and is used to being fed as soon as she wakes up. If it ever happens again she will be waiting 20 minutes until I get back from the store with her doggy food!

GB, I agree. I don’t understand why people insist on feeding their dogs table food or scraps. It’s not healthy for them, even if it isn’t outright poisonous. What is wrong with buying top quality (or making if you really feel like it) top quality dog food and feeding them that (in reasonable amounts)? They will be healthier and live longer as a result – and you won’t have to fork over as much cash for vet bills.

I had a small chawowa (sp) she ate nothing but what we ate and lived fourteen years and never sick a day in her life. She never ate any kind of dogfood at all. Her favorite snack was mnm’s and it never gave her any problems. I was told that because we didn’t mix dog foods with people food that her system was used to our foods and it conformed to that. She died from a black widow spider bite and is now in our little cemetery out back.

If you were serious when you said you gave your dog these varying things, particularly the booze, rather than just taking journalistic liberties, YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE ANY PETS. Period. End of subject. You are ignorant and dangerous, and you will have a pet die an agonizing death.

I’m half tempted to trace this back and find your real name and address so the SPCA can get animal control to come take whatever animals currently live in your home. Yeah, they’ll probably die in a shelter, but at least that’s a humane death.

Some shelters don’t make it humane. Some animals die there from sickness that the shelter didn’t bother to check if they had. In my oponion shelters are worst my dog when I first got her from a shelter had parvo virus and the shelter didn’t know and neither did we it wasn’t until I noticed her poop looked weird and we took her to the vet and got her treated she barely lived. my point is the shelter didn’t care to check her and she nearly died a painful death. Also some people dont know what good and bad for their dogs like inexperienced owners. Just because they didn’t have knowledge on a dogs diet doesn’t make then horrible people or owners. I didn’t know not to give my dog saltines but after she drank water and had a vet checkup I learned saltine are a no for my dog. As long as the owner is smart and takes their pet to a vets office after they notice something odd I say they can keep their pet

my dog just ate half a saltine cracker about an hour ago. she had some water afterwards but im pretty sure shes okay. shes had saltine crackers before ( compliments of my bro) and was ok. shes a smaller dog so her stomach wont twist like big dogs that drink water.

My Pit Bull at 9 months old now LOVES saltine crackers!! Me and her just sat here last night and ate almost a whole sleeve of them and she is fine!! She didn’t go drink a bunch of water afterwards or anything weird. I have also fed her LOTS of grapes that are suppose to be toxic to dogs and she had no reaction or problems with them. I can’t have them in the house because she begs and whines if she sees me eating them. I guess it all depends on the animal themselves and their systems.

Saltines are pretty harmless. You don’t want to use them regularly. Dog biscuits are better because excess salt is bad for dogs. As long as your human snack is not chocolate, it should be okay in small amounts.

I agree with this, a hungry person would eat anything, even his own peers, so if a dog is hungry he will eat anything. Dogs dont know, what is bad and good for them, that is why we here, humans with brains, well at least a few have some. If you can not afford to give your dog good food and only tablescrab you should not have a dog. Even the stores like W-Mart, Publix, Winn-Dixie have some good food you can afford, you dont need to eat like a King and smoke like an Idiot, share with your loved pet whatever you have on money so he can be healthy also and does not have Belly pain, where and who does not care. A dog can not speak he is not a human beeing so you are there to keep care and if you dont know what to do, go on-line Google anything, asked a Petshop Associate or a Vet.

hmmmm, well some of you are just out rite venting out aren’t you. what couldn’t argue with the hubby or the wify so your just being mean well the dude or lady already said they’d never do it again.

but well actually going back to the topic i come from a big family and have first hand experience that a little bit of everything is good as it builds up immunity and your immune system.i mean think about it; when you get an immunisation done the injection has a tiny bit of the disease or virus in it so your body can build up immunity towards it.

and further more if you have a deicate stomach or no someone who does and the food would upset your or that particular persons stomach well then surely it would be bad for the dog too. like for example i ate a lot of garlic everyday for a week and had an alergic reaction which is what we would guess would happen as it is quite strong. furthermore, i ate a big tub of ice cream once and was foaming at the mouth not to mention the tummy pain which is what we’d guess would happen. the list can go on…..

and i would like to point out that if you read the lables of your lovely pet food a lot of dog treats have garlic in it and a lot of dog food has beer in it.

Hmmm – please note that the beer in dog food is non-alcoholic. Garlic and onions are toxic in LARGE amounts. A clove of garlic used in a bag of dog food is not really a LARGE amount, but again, it really depends on your dog.

In other words, you all need to know what is poisonous/dangerous to a dog’s system and never feed them those things.

Don’t ever compare a dog to a human being. It is not about strengthening their immune system. Some food that we, humans, enjoy are TOXIC, pure POISON, for dogs. What you feed them can kill them either slowly and painfully for the rest of their lives or quicky shutting down their organs and killing them instantly.

Please feed your dog natural, organic, healthy food so that you can enjoy a long, happy life with your four legged companions.

Also, unlike some humans, if you give a dog a inch of love, they give you a mile back.

Whoever wrote this should not be allowed to own a dog. What kind of idiot gives their dog chocolate, chicken bones, and even “a little” alcohol? It disgusts me that people like this can own dogs and not be in jail while dogs who bite someone (that may have asked for it also out of stupidity, or even earned it through abuse) will be put down. What an insane world we live in.

I give my dog everything and she’s 15 years old and happy organic food is good for everyone and dogs but it’s expensive I give my dog good dog food but always my scraps too it’s not just about feeding your dog I walk/ run my dog everyday and well she’s still breathing and loves it this list is crap to my dog it may be for yours but some dogs do have better immunity then others stop worrying about the food their dogs humans created them just run them and love them give them their shots they will be fine

You supposedly dog lovers are All selfish +shouldn’t have an animal .all they want is love +FOOD That won’t Kill them. As a human u can use poor judgement for yourself. But these animals love +trusts you to feed them properly.Get a grip + don’t DON’T feed your animals crap.REMEMBER KARMA IS A BITCH